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FrontRunners: Chilling In Quebec

Hardy souls who sleep with the window open in February can take that concept a step further by checking in for a night at the Ice Hotel (877.505.0423, www.icehotel-canada.com) near Quebec City in Canada. Scheduled to open for its third season on January 10, the Ice Hotel is just that—a 30,000-square-foot edifice constructed each year out of ice and snow, furniture included. The hotel has 31 fireplaced rooms and theme suites where guests sleep on deer pelts. Besides the guest rooms, the hotel boasts a reception room for group events, a cinema, the Absolut Ice Bar where a specialty is vodka shooters in glasses made of ice, and an ice chapel, which is available for weddings.

The hotel’s indoor temperature is kept at a bracing 23°F to 28°F, so the physical activities at hand are probably a good idea for maintenance of blood circulation. Besides the usual wintry choices of cross-country skiing and skating, there are lessons in igloo construction, dogsled rides, snowshoeing, ice fishing, and snowmobiling nearby.

Those interested should act quickly, because the Ice Hotel is open for only three months, until signs of spring appear at the end of March.